WEBVTT <I'D RATHER COME HERE THAN THE MALL SOMETIMES, BECAUSE IT'S CONVENIENT <IT'S KIND OF SAD.> <YEAH, THERE'S NOT MUCH ON THE EAST SIDE ANYMORE.> A mostly-empty parking lot - will soon devolve, into a vacant storefront. The metro's lone KMART off Hubble Avenue on Des Moines' East side is going out of business... And it's set to have a 'BIG' impact, on the community it serves. <I LIVE LIKE, FIVE MINUTES AWAY, AND I COME HERE LIKE EVERY DAY I GET OFF WORK. IT'S LIKE, EASY ACCESS.> <ALTOONA WALMART, IS WHERE I'M GONNA HAVE TO GO. I'LL HAVE NOWHERE ELS THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE CLOSE.> Residents say the store - which will close in September - offered much more, than grocerie <WE SOMEWHAT ANTICIPATED THAT THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.> Ward 2 councilwoma Linda Westergaard says the city - was prepared, for this. <WE WERE LUCKY THAT THEY WERE HERE FOR AS MANY YEARS AS THEY WERE. IT'S JUST WHAT'S HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.> But Westergaard believes this bustling East Side corner... <NATS, cars driving by> will bounce-back... citing that the number of nearby businesses, new housing even the local pool, right next door - make the area, an attractive destinatio <WE'RE NOT GOING TO LET THIS SIDETRACK US OR DISSAPOINT US <WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT BETTER. IT'LL BE EVEN BETTER.> But nieghbors... aren't as optimistic. <THE MALLS AND STUFF ARE EXPANDING, AND THEY'RE JUST TAKING THE LITTLE BUSINESSES AWAY.> <SMALL BUSINESSES, I THINK ARE TRULY, TRULY, ALMOST DEAD

The last Kmart store in the Des Moines metro will shutter its doors, along with 71 other stores owned by Sears Holdings Corp., the company announced Thursday.

The company said in a news release that the Kmart at 2535 Hubbell Ave. on Des Moines’ east side, along with 63 other Sears and Kmart stores, are slated to close in the next few months.

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The other Iowa location is the Sears at North Park Mall in Davenport.

The closures will leave Des Moines and Sioux City as having the only Sears stores in Iowa. There are several hometown locations that will remain open, including in Dubuque. The only Kmart stores remaining in Iowa are Algona, Charles City, Cherokee, Council Bluffs, Oelwein and Webster City.

Sears has closed stores in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Coralville in recent years as part of “ongoing efforts to streamline the company’s operations and focus on our best stores.

Sears had initially planned to shut down 72 locations because of they have not been profitable, but decided 11 of those stores will be given more time to turn things around.

Industry experts have said that Sears is in a dire financial state, and the retailer has admitted “substantial doubts” exist that it will be able to remain in business.